a700hitter

Buch has become a very hittable pitcher. He used to miss a lot of bats. That is no longer the case. Great! He walks the #9 man to load the bases with 1 out.

Sizemore got a great jump. He still has good speed.

We might as well bring up Rubby and see what he has got. If he bombs in 2 straight starts, bring up Barnes.

What are David Ross's numbers since he has been with the Red Sox? Last season, he deserved some slack due to the concussion issue and we were producing runs like crazy so we didn't need him to hit. This season he continues to look like an old softball player trying to hit MLB pitching. He looks like he is washed up. Why not bring up Vasquez who looks like the best defensive catcher that the Red Sox have had since Tony Pena. There is nothing to lose. He couldn't hit much worse than Ross who hasn't been off the Interstate since we got him. If Vasquez completely bombs, give someone else a chance. Ross has set the bar very low.

I hope that he gets claimed.

And those numbers are no better whether there have been runners on second and third or first and second. He gave away two outs for a team that has trouble hitting. Also, last night was not the night for the manager to decide to manufacture runs. It was a high scoring game in which we were down big and we were hitting the ball very well all night long. It was just baffling.

Playing for one or 2 runs when you are down 4 runs in the 6th and 3 runs in the 8th? Just plain dumb. And Holt was hitting well tonight.

Chis Davis is heating up. He doubled his HR output tonight with 3. Nelson Cruz already has 13 HRs, and their best hitters are Machado and Jones.

Okay, who gets called up to take Doubront's starts?

In the 6th, 8th, and 9th we had the first 2 batters get on base, and none of the 6 scored. Would someone please explain to me the bunt attempts in the 6th and 8th? I just don't get it.

Ortiz gives you your money's worth.

Will Farrell bunt again with 2 on and down 3 runs? LOL!!

Bring up Vasquez. The guy is a dynamo behind the plate, and he couldn't hit worse than Ross.

And Lester's value goes up.

Ross is through. He looks like someone's Grandpapy out there. He used to be an okay hitter, but this is 2 years in a row of being really bad.

What a difference a year make! Last year, we had everything fall into place. This year is the opposite. We had a rally going and Happ was on the ropes and XB hits a bullet that the third baseman dive for and gets a DP. An inning or 2 later we were tuning up Happ and Ortiz crushes a ball for the last out in one inning. Then we crush the ball some more and Farrell fails with a bunt with Ross. Then we crush it some more and he bunts and fails with Holt who had been hitting the ball hard. The first bunt down 4 runs was hard to comprehend, but bunting in the 8th inning down 3 runs was really baffling. Can someone explain that one to me. We should have 8 or 9 runs.

Doubs is blowing.

Eric Kratz was a nice pickup for the Jays.

Scutaro

Brentz would be the only option.

I guess that Middlebrooks will be the other part of that platoon.

Sign J.D. And we are set!

Exactly, and the Drew signing bears out your theory.

Yep, half of the plan has been implemented.

Red Sox To Sign Stephen Drew By Steve Adams [May 20, 2014 at 1:48pm CDT] 2:44pm: Drew will play short for Boston, tweets Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, which of course means that Bogaerts will shift to third. He will go directly onto the active MLB roster but spend a week or more getting back up to speed in the minors, reports Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (Twitter links). (As Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains on Twitter, Drew has to join the active roster because he signed a major league deal.) The team “back-channeled” with Drew over the course of the season, and met with him at least once in April, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Ultimately, the signing came together within the last two days, a source tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com (Twitter link). 1:48pm: The Red Sox have reached an agreement with Stephen Drew, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Drew is getting the pro-rated version of the qualifying offer ($14.1MM) on a one-year deal, meaning that Drew will be paid roughly $10.17MM. Drew is represented by Scott Boras. Drew’s value this offseason was weighed down by a number of factors. He rejected a $14.1MM qualifying offer last November, meaning that any team (other than Boston) that wished to sign him would have to forfeit its top unprotected pick. Additionally, there were a lack of teams that were willing to spend and had a clear need for an upgrade at shortstop. The asking price of both Drew and Boras likely also weighed on interested parties. Boston appeared to be a ready to move on from Drew and go with a left side of the infield that included Will Middlebrooks at third base and Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. However, Middlebrooks is hitting just .197/.305/.324 and is on the disabled list for the second time this season already. Bogaerts hasn’t excelled with the bat as they’d hoped, hitting a solid but unspectacular .269/.369/.379. The bigger issue with Bogaerts, however, has been his glove at shortstop. Though he’s made just four errors, his range has been below average, and both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved feel he’s played well below-average defense. Boston likely expected to receive a compensatory draft pick to go along with their youth movement, but the fact that Drew clearly wasn’t going to sign elsewhere prior to the draft presented GM Ben Cherington with two options: sign Drew now or see him sign elsewhere while receiving nothing in return. Given the club’s deficiencies on the left side of the infield, the Sox opted for the external upgrade rather than hoping that their young infielders would heal up and pick up the pace at the plate. Drew, 31, enjoyed a nice bounce-back campaign with the Sox in 2013, slashing a solid .253/.333/.443 with 13 homers in 501 plate appearances. He played solid defense at short, per Ultimate Zone Rating (+6.7 UZR/150), though Defensive Runs Saved (-2) wasn’t as big of a fan. The Red Sox loved Drew’s glove at short, however (particularly in the playoffs), and his ability with the leather was enough to keep him from being platooned despite a .196/.246/.340 batting line against southpaws. While this is hardly an ideal scenario for Drew, the fact that he won’t be on Boston’s roster for the entire season means that he’ll be ineligible to receive a qualifying offer next offseason, which should improve his chances of landing a strong multi-year deal considerably. Of course, he’ll also face steeper competition on the shortstop market than he did this past offseason and will be coming off a shorter season than if he’d simply signed earlier in the year. Hanley Ramirez, J.J. Hardy, Jed Lowrie and Asdrubal Cabrera are all set to hit the open market following the 2014 campaign. Drew is the first case of a player waiting to sign until after the start of a season to avoid a qualifying offer the following year. Kyle Lohse and Ervin Santana came close by signing in Spring Training in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and Kendrys Morales figures to wait until after the draft in order to avoid such an offer and shed the draft pick that is currently attached to his name after rejecting Seattle’s qualifying offer last November. Boras has used the troubles of Drew and Morales to voice considerable displeasure with Major League Baseball’s qualifying offer system this offseason. While many will be quick to point out that Boras has a clearly biased take, MLBTR’s Zach Links spoke with a number of executives earlier this spring, and even they agreed that the qualifying offer system was advantageous to teams. We at MLBTR even predicted a four-year deal was possible for Drew in spite of a qualifying offer. Morales, Lohse, Santana and Nelson Cruz are examples of additional players that have seen their value likely diminished by their attachment to draft pick compensation. Ultimately, Drew cost himself roughly $4MM and two months of playing time in order to shed the possibility of being saddled with a qualifying offer again next offseason. If he’s able to land a lucrative multi-year deal, it’s still possible that he could come out ahead in the long run, financially speaking.